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On The Table Read Magazine, “the best creativity magazine in the UK“, actor and podcaster Sean Hayden talks about the work that goes into Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story.
Written by JJ Barnes
I interviewed Sean Hayden about his life and career, what inspired him to start podcasting, and the work that goes into the Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story podcast.
I’m Sean Hayden. I’m a theater actor based out of New York City who’s been acting professionally for over 25 years. I’ve appeared in two Broadway national tours and on stages in theaters across the U.S. I’m the CEO of Haywood Productions, LLC which is launching a new, groundbreaking podcast called “Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story.”
In 2019, I experienced a mental health crisis while working as a lead actor at one of the most prestigious and powerful theaters in the U.S. And that experience fundamentally changed me.
The phrase that many people said to me in the years following was, “I didn’t think this would happen to someone like you.” I thought, “What does that mean?” Because a mental health crisis could happen to anyone. It made me think, “What if I could show you in a podcast how a mental health crisis happens? Dramatize how my mental health crisis happened. All within a juicy backstage theater story.” And that’s how the podcast was born.
It’s called “Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story.” The name materialized quite easily as the incidents that led to the mental health story in the podcast arose out of stage combat sequences in a production of “Billy Elliot, The Musical.” Stage combat is a carefully choreographed sequence performed by the actors and designed to create the illusion of violence for the audience.
And those stage combat sequences take place within a juicy backstage story that is a battlefield. And combined with Haywood Production’s mission statement to combat the stigma of mental health, this podcast could only be called “Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story.”
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What happens when a leading actor collapses on stage and suffers a mental health crisis while working at one of the most powerful theaters in the U.S. The listener will follow that mental health crisis as it happens while being introduced to the protective, insular world of the theater industry where the unspoken rule is: “It is in your best interest not to speak up. Or there will be consequences.” It also has a lot to say about the creative process for artists.
I narrate the scripted, nonfiction story along with a cast of twenty talented voice actors in immersive 20-minute script edt nonfiction serialized stories. Music, sound effects, and a fast-paced story that always ends on a cliffhanger! The story is then followed by a 10-minute conversation with a mental health professional about some of the issues the listeners just heard in the story. It’s a format that I’ve never seen in a podcast so I think the listeners will find this podcast a unique experience!
I work alongside a very talented editor in Harlem named Andrew Linn. Then he mixes it and puts in his final touches.
The serialized story is scripted. The mental health conversations are free-form. However, in those conversations I’m fostering a broader conversation based upon what the listener just heard in the story. So I know what I want to talk about. Such as “What is a panic attack,” “The power of words on mental health,” “Bullying in the workplace” or “Consent in the workplace.” The beauty is when the conversation goes someplace you never expected or actually informs me in a way that I never considered before.
I always knew in my head what I wanted the podcast to sound like, but was never sure if it was a realistic goal. Once we got into editing, it was thrilling to realize, “Ok, we can do this.” Not only that, we discovered we could be more ambitious and immersive than we even originally planned. So we really pushed the limits on the editing to make the listener feel like they are on stage with the protagonist. Which was very exciting from a production standpoint.
Unfortunately what happened to me personally in the workplace was not good and I was working at one of the most powerful theaters in the country. So this podcast had to be scripted and designed being fully aware of what we are up against. So the scripts had to be meticulous. They were annotated with over 500 factual references. And each line was reviewed by a top media lawyer. So it was never just a matter of picking up a microphone and telling my story.
Another challenge of telling the story of “Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story” is that there are actually two parallel stories. There’s the story of what was happening to me in real time that I was aware of and that caused my mental health crisis. And then there’s another story that I wasn’t aware of. One that was kept secret from me. That I didn’t find out about until over two years after the final curtain.
So in writing the scripts I had to figure out how tonarrate this story in the first person and tell both stories—as they happened—simultaneously? And when you listen to the podcast, you will hear how we decided to do that.
My week usually involves listening to Graham Norton, The News Quiz and The Now Show on the BBC. For mental health: The Anxiety Coaches Podcast with Gina Ryan. On NRP I usually catch Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me and This American Life. And maybe a Wondery true crime podcast.
“Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story” has a digital media campaign that is being promoted on Instagram, Tik Tok, Facebook and LinkedIn. And we have a New York publicist as well to place us in other media outlets.
Haywood Productions is proud to offer this mental health podcast free and without ads.
It surprised me just how many hours it takes to produce this type of podcast. For every 20-minute story segment, there are probably about 15-20 hours of recording and editing involved!
On a personal level, even after three years of therapy to work through my trauma, I was surprised that writing the podcast allowed me to even further connect the dots to tell the story of what happened to me in “Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story.” I was able to go, “Oh, my body and mind reacted this way here because of this thing happening, etc.” So I guess podcasting has become the ultimate cognitive therapy for me!
Have a story to tell. Speak with purpose. Podcasting is a very niche market. If you have a specific, compelling story, hopefully the listeners will find you.
I’m proud that I’m telling my story and I’m proud to know “Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story” is going to help people. Something Oprah said has stayed with me while making this podcast. She said that when it comes to recovering from trauma, it is the telling of the story, being able to say “this is what happened to me” that is crucial. I’m doing that in this podcast series.
And at the end of each episode I tell the listeners that I hope today brings them an opportunity to claim their story.
And, yes, I will claim the cliché that if this “Stage Combat: A Mental Health Story” helps one person, it is worth it!
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